Archive

Epic Gaming Moments Vol. 1: Proving Honor To Farkas (“Skyrim”).

This is the
first post in a new column/series I’m going to be launching on this blog: Shitting (Video Game) Brix. For this new
column, I’m going to be writing posts describing some moments in my video
gaming history that have made me literally shit bricks literally.

Literally.

The gaming
moments herein described won’t only be surprising plot twists, but anything
that’s genuinely shocked me to the point of going “Holy shit” out loud as I am
known to sometimes do, be it a character’s surprising death, a segment of
particularly amazing game design, a chill-inducing FMV, et ceteros*.

Any
spoilers I might include in these posts will be colored in black so you don’t
accidentally read them. Highlight the weird blacked out text to read.

For this first post, I wanted to share a very recent gaming brix shitting moment from a rather obscure game you might’ve not even heard of: “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” or “Skyrim” for short convenience. “Skyrim” is an open-world RPG in which you take the role of a normal man—or in my case a big mean orc with tusks like a motherfucker—awakening from anonymity and rising up to heroically save the world.

The Context:

Did I mention you can marry him if such your fancy?

As any open
world game, you can choose to do the main plotline/quest the game has set up,
or to explore the enormous world of Skyrim and do what you want, which is about
95% of the game’s total content. One of the plotlines you can follow is that of
The Companions, a group of badasses you meet early in the game who send you on
minor quests and eventually, if the player wishes, admit you among their ranks.

One of
these Companions is called Farkas, and he’s pretty much exactly the kind of
massive badass you’d expect from a member of a secret society of warriors: he’s
big, tough, hairy, and wouldn't take shit from Batman.

Also, he
has a voice that makes Solid Snake feel like a pussy.

For one of
the early Companion quests, you are asked to prove your honor by accompanying
Farkas to a Crypt to investigate a member’s disappearance. At one point while
exploring the underground tunnels, the player is trapped inside a cage while
Farkas is surrounded by powerful enemies he couldn’t possibly take on by
himself—or so the game makes you think.

The Shitting of the Brix:

Just when you
think Farkas might bite it, he turns
into a motherfucking werewolf. Enemies approaching, you see him double over
and magically transform into a massive, awesomely designed wolf monster with
claws and jaws that make short work of the baddies.

After
taking care of them, Farkas changes back and actually asks you if he scared
you. No dude, you didn’t scare me—you just gave me a massive stiffy for this
game and a lust to figure out just how I can become a werewolf as well. Not too far later, the Companions are revealed to be a society of werewolves,
and invite you to join in after a ritual. Being a werewolf in Skyrim is one
hell of an awesome thing.

This was
the moment when I truly decided that “Skyrim” was a special game. I had truly
loved “Oblivion” (the prequel to this title, in which you could become a faggy
vampire, but alas not a werewolf) but it’s this kind of surprises really make
“Skyrim” a true masterpiece.